Dozens of volunteers helped install special smoke alarms in close to 40 homes across Surprise recently that can alert people who are deaf or hard of hearing – especially in the middle of the night. It’s a three-part system that includes: the alarm itself, a strobe light and a palm-sized bed-shaker.
Burn Foundation CEO Rex Albright said that regardless of ability or financial means, everyone should have access to the right tools in case of an emergency.
“The first thing that people tell us when they get one of these installed,” said Albright, “they said, ‘Well, I didn't think I needed it, but now that it's here – now I understand the situation. And I do need it. And now that it's here, I know I can go to sleep safely. I know I can go to sleep comfortably.’ And some of them probably haven't felt that way in a long time. They just haven't admitted it.”
Albright said this year’s event was bigger than expected thanks to an influx of volunteers, and they’re hoping to continue expanding to other areas.
Surprise resident Jo McNall said she has a new peace of mind and wants to see more people get access to the same potentially life-saving tools.
“I'm probably a senior who has experience – a lifetime of experience with hearing loss,” said McNall, who’s been hard of hearing since having a bout of scarlet fever as a toddler.
She got her first hearing aids at 18, after encouragement from a family member, and said many people who are deaf or hard of hearing can often self-isolate in a world that often overlooks them.
Between attending business school in Vancouver, living in different places across the U.S. and a decades-long career with Boeing, McNall has always been determined to make the most of life.
“Being hearing impaired doesn't necessarily have to stymie your life, but people who get older, not used to talking about it – it hits them, and they don't know what to do with it.”
She expressed that being hard of hearing is just part of her life, and has almost always been.
“I realized that I needed to stop pretending that I was hearing,” said McNall. “I think it became noticeable to teachers who were soft spoken, because they had to put me in the front of the class. And I had to study really hard to get good grades because I didn't always hear the teacher, but the books had what I needed to know.”
The bigger issue, she said, is a world that doesn’t always consider people with disabilities or deliver on promised accessibility when it remembers to.
So for her, having a smoke alarm in her home that works without her wearing hearing aids is one simple way to reclaim a sense of safety.
“One really sweetheart of a handyman, when I first moved here, I just told him what I needed was a strobe light smoke alarm in my bedroom,” recalled McNall. “And so he went off and he brought me a smoke alarm that talks.”
But this month, volunteers with the Arizona Burn Foundation visited her home of seven years to finally install one.
